WARNING: Graphic descriptions of blood and gore, please be wary!

Waking up this time was different, sure she still trembled and jerked across the floor, but it was the splitting headache that drew her focus. She clapped her hands over her eyes, the sudden bright light causing the pain to flare. She grit her teeth at the way it pulsed in time with her heartbeat, fast and heavy, and it reminded her of—

"You alright there?" The southern drawl caught her attention, the worried undertone causing her to blink an eye open.

The Engineer was on his knees near her slumped form, hands raised slightly, ready to shake her from her stupor. The onslaught of light made her hiss and dig her palms further into her eyes. Despite having them closed and covered, the light pushed through her eyelids causing her to see a warm red.

"Did you get caught in the head?" He asked, and the nod she gave made the world spin.

"Yeah, the first time getting hit in the head is pretty bad, but it should go away after a few minutes." He glanced towards the doors looking on to the battlegrounds, the internal debate going unseen by Chef.

"Will you be fine by yourself?" She huffed at his question, waving a hand to shoo him off.

She sat there for a while, hearing the tapping of his boots fading away and the sound of her loud breathing in the room. Slowly but surely the red glow began to dim, leaving only the darkness from her hands.

Finally uncovering her face, Chef wobbled to her feet before grabbing her weapons and heading out into the hot wasteland, duly ignoring the yells from her earpiece. She ran sedately, going over dirt and wood, before coming upon the second bridge where she died (again). It was empty and silent, the point still blaring red. Cautiously looking around for any of her teammates, she realised she was alone, alone and lost.

She continued forward quietly, body stiff as she passed concrete buildings, coming closer to the cacophony of noise. The final point for the RED team and the first point for the BLU team looked to be a blood bath, the point was still a yellow as each team was desperately fighting over it.

She could see Sniper positioned discretely on the building overlooking the mess. Hearing a distinct voice calling for her, she turned to see Scout waving her wildly over to his side, the wall protecting him getting shot simultaneously.

Jogging over to his location, hunched over to avoid the stray gunshots, she settled with her back to a heavy box. "You see that over there?" He pointed to their opposite side, where a heavy-set machine sat beeping. Occasionally, bullets flew from the guns situated on top of it in response to a peek of red.

"What is it?" She asked.

"It's one of Engie's sentries. You move, you get hit." He gripped his shotgun tightly. "Usually Demo would deal with it, but he jus' died to that Medic."

It looked to be a precarious situation with the BLU team at an advantage with their defence, if her team didn't move up, then they could quickly become overwhelmed. While trying to think of a strategy that could give the best results with the lowest risks and costs, a strange scent drifted subtly to her nose.

'Why...does it smell like cigarette smoke?' She thought.

The air seemed to ripple and an odd noise came from behind her, just as she twisted around to look at Scout, her arm was sliced open. Her blood dripping onto the concrete sounded too loud in her ears, staring at the glint of the butterfly knife and the sly expression of the enemy Spy, Chef urgently cocked her gun. With a kick, her weapon was thrown away, and the enemy advanced on her.

'Two can play at this game.'

Flicking open her hip pouches, she withdrew two knives—each a different shape—holding them threateningly up from her face and glared. The Spy chuckled and before he could open his mouth to, no doubt, spit an annoying one-liner, she risked a chance and lunged.

She had noticed his hand inching towards his hip, likely to pullout his own firearm and didn't want to give him the opportunity. His arm swung downwards intending to plunge the butterfly knife through her chest, swiftly she broke through his guard, driving the chef knife in her right sideways through his throat. The blood-coated knife stuck out of the other side of his skin, and with a vicious tug, broke free from his jugular.

The body fell to the ground in a bloody heap, the wound left torn and gaping, a gruesome sight. She did not stay to watch what happened to the dead in this place, stepping around the wall, she ran to a protected position across from her. Lifting a finger to tap against her earpiece, she called out.

["Spy down."]

With the sounds of relief echoing in her ear, she caught up with Soldier taking cover behind a particularly tall building. He was muttering to himself, and the few times he popped his head around the wall, he quickly hid again from the splash of gunfire.

"Chef! Do you have any ideas on how to deal with that?" He pointed with his thumb to the general direction of the sentry.

She hummed, peeking at the machine on the concrete hill, its body turning left and right at a steady pace. It faced the point, and she found it curious how there wasn't any of the BLU team on it already, before she remembered Sniper.

["Sniper, is it possible for you to get that sentry?"] She said into her earpiece after clicking it once.

["I'm held up with keeping the enemy away from the point,"] he grumbled.

She shut her earpiece off with a quiet curse, and her sight drifted to Soldier who was frowning severely, before she caught the blotch of colour on his shirt. Her eyes widened at the two orange streaked grenades strapped to his chest.

"Soldier!" She barked, something in her tone caused the man to straighten up immediately.

"Your grenades." She motioned, and he sheepishly handed them over.

The location of the sentry had one major flaw, now that she thought about it. It had a wall right beside it that was perfect for ricocheting a grenade off of. So with a final glance at the contraption—just to make sure she got the right angle—she pulled the pin, held down the spoon and hurled the grenade which, as predicted bounced off the wall and landed right on its heels.

The explosion was thunderous, with shrapnel flung in all directions and nearly hitting where Chef and Soldier had hidden, while the sentry was reduced to a pile of scrap. She cheered along with Soldier, high-fiving each other before she coughed, and they both turned away—embarrassed.

"Alright! Let's go—!"

[Timeout!]

The Announcer's voice caused Chef to stumble, her face blank in confusion, while Soldier groaned at the bad timing. He nudged her with his elbow, "C'mon soldier! Time for a break!"

In the spawn room, sitting on a bench and eating her crackers and jam was Chef. Who was currently very grumpy, her plain crackers snapped loudly whenever she took a bite and the strawberry jam dripped onto her fingers.

Around the room, the sounds of chewing and crunching were heard as most of the men ate their small snacks—sandwiches, crackers (flavoured), chips and canned beans—no conversation was held.

"Ugh! We were so close!" Scout complained, effectively breaking the silence and letting the rest begin their own tirades.

Chef sighed at the assault of noise, her head pounding with the beginnings of a massive headache. Taking a sip of water from her bottle, her food finished with just a little bit of jam left, she closed her eyes and thought.

'What am I going to make for dinner tonight?'